I've spent 18 years teaching teens in various educational establishments and I remember horribly clearly the hormonal mix of depression, ecstasy and fury that gripped my own soul during those tempestuous years oh-so-long-ago, so I've got a pretty good idea about what makes teens tick, what makes them blow and about how to send them to sleep.
However I don't yet have a child of teenage years and I can honestly say that, albeit nine years away yet, I'm already feeling hot-palmed and sweaty-necked about what it will be like. If
I was anything to go by - tough. My parents' kitchen ceiling still sports the cracks of the door-slammingly volatile farewells I used to bestow upon our household on a regular basis...
Parenthood has challenged me like nothing else in my entire life; it's a balancing act without a pole and with a blindfold, all about striking exactly the right combination of hands-on and hands-off, of support and challenge, of help and disengagement. Just when I think I've felt my way to equilibrium, everything changes; a developmental step is taken whilst I'm looking the other way, and I'm struggling to find me feet again.
Friends of mine with pre-teens and early teenage kids tell me that striking these balances is never more difficult with the onset of emergent adulthood. The dilemmas suddenly get potentially more serious. A mobile phone for safety - but what about monitoring the access to the web and social media? Sleepovers with friends - should you
know the parent of the youngster they are staying with? "Heading into town after school this afternoon, mum - OK?"
Who with? Where? For how long? What if... You want to give them space to explore without the risk of any real danger, the room to build social relationships away from you, without them falling in with the wrong crowd.
How on earth are we supposed to do this?Never does the conflict between care and freedom come more info focus than on a family holiday with teens. What was once a much-anticipated week away participating in activities that seemed to keep everyone happy for years, can become a melting pot of emergent personalities and conflicting emotions. Yet in the same breath
never has the family needed so much
glue.
Campsite Chatter's
Lakeside Camping Specialism was conceived during a conversation with a parent deep in the throes of trying to strike 'the balance'. The family wanted to camp - they had
always camped - and two of the kids are still young enough to be happy no matter what. But the eldest had recently entered
the Twiglet Zone. Where should they stay this year? Campsites near 'active' lakes with watersports available are ideal locations for family holidays. The opportunity for activity and challenge, for meeting other young people all within a safe environment makes them a teen-friendly choice for families who still want to holiday together at the same time as acknowledging that
some members at least need to 'go their own way' at times.
For teens, whose social bonds with peers are so bewilderingly crucial to their identity, happiness and self-esteem, a week away from friends can mean a week out of the action which can be accompanied by a real fear of missing out. This can feel pretty hurtful to everyone else in the family who is looking forward to the break away and who last year made perfectly good holiday companions, thank you very much! On our Lakeside camping pages you'll find a site where two worlds can holiday comfortably side-by-side.
Croft Farm Waterpark Camp Site is a lively site with three decades experience of watersports activities on site: windsurfing, canoeing and sailing, as well as power-boat activities will keep your teens busy. And there's plenty for you to do too: gym and sauna, bars, games rooms and entertainment. This is an all-round lively venue for family holidays.
If it's peace and quiet you're craving, with activities to keep teens active and smiling then
Lakeside Caravan & Camping Park, set at the heart of the beautiful Brecon Beacons, where canoes, sailing dinghies, rowing boats and pedaloes can all be hired to take on the Lake, is a great option.
At
Billabong Watersports & Caravan Site an 11 acre crystal clear lake, overlooked by a café with a veranda, provides teens with plenty of excitement and activity. Take and launch your own speedboat, or jet-ski.jet bike
(like, we've all got one of those in the shed!) or take advantage of the wakeboarding, waterskiiing, kneel boarding or tow inflatables on offer, including tuition.
If you want to please
everyone in your family then choosing an all-round Holiday Park like
Skegness Water Leisure Park might just be the ticket. There's a children's play areas for the youngsters, a Fishing Lake, a narrow gauge railway
(I kid you not) and, importantly, a cable tow water ski lake.
On all of these great sites, guess where the teens are going to congregate?
